Mirror By Sylvia Plath | Short Summary | Question-Answers | Video Explanation

-Watch this Video for detailed Explanation- 
Mirror was written in 1961. This poem is seen as the reflection of poet’s life. Various figures of speech like personification, metaphor and simile have been used in the poem. Time is the major theme in the poem as it shows the struggle of speaker against ageing. The poem mimics the state of mind of the poet.
The mirror is a melancholy that exemplifies the tensions between inner and outer selves with respect to a woman’s sadness of losing her beauty. This poem claims that though certain images reflected in the mirror might be painful to certain people at certain stages of their lives, it is in no way responsible for causing this pain because it reflects exactly what it sees. ‘Mirror’ is a reflection of the mirror’s point of view.


- READ THIS POEM -


- SHORT SUMMARY -
The poem is told from the perspective of a mirror, who starts by describing itself physically as silver-colored and precise. The mirror insists it has no predetermined assumptions about anything, and instead simply takes in whatever stands in front of it, exactly the way it is. The mirror isn't mean or harsh, but simply honest. It's like a small god's eye, with all four corners. For the most part, the mirror focuses on the pink, speckled wall that stands across from it. The mirror has been staring at this wall for so long that it thinks the wall is in fact an essential part of itself. At the same time, that wall goes in and out of focus as people and darkness pass in front of it. Then, the mirror becomes the reflective surface of a lake over which a woman leans, looking intently into the water's depths for some hint of who she is inside. Not finding it, she directs her attention to the candle she holds or the moon (sources of light) that she thinks must be lying to her by not showing her who she really is. The mirror watches the woman's back as she walks away, and reflects it accurately. The woman thanks the mirror by crying and wringing her hands in distress. The mirror knows that it matters a lot to this woman, who comes back again to look into it. Every day starts with the woman's face taking the place of the darkness that the mirror reflected all night. The young girl she once was will never look back at her again, having been metaphorically drowned in the mirror. Instead, as the days go by she sees only the old woman she has become approaching her like an awful fish.



- EXPLANATION -

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, Unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

Here, The mirror gives its own description and says that it is silver colored and is very accurate while reflecting the images of the objects that fall on its surface. He claims not to have any preconceived notions and it absorbs everything that comes its way. The image is clear and exact as it is neither distorted nor beautified by mirror’s likes and dislikes. It is not out of cruelty but truthfulness that it reflects exactly what it see without any intention of hurting anybody. Like an omniscient God, the mirror get a multi-directional view of whatever it gets to see.


Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Most of the time it focuses its attention on the opposite wall that is pink in color and has many discolored patches on its surface. Mirror has been looking at it for such a long time that now it has become a part of its very existence. But however, its steady view interrupted many times. Darkness and individuals standing between the mirror and the wall block its view and they only separated from each other whenever such an interruption occurs.


Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.

Here, The mirror imagines itself to be a lake and says that it finds a woman looking into it very closely. Delving deep down into its depths. she seems to be searching for her beauty and youth that time has robbed her. 


Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.

Here the woman is not able to reconcile to her dull looks. Hence she catches a glimpse of herself in the dim candlelight and moonlight. Their projection of hers is not exact as all blemishes of her face gets hidden due to lack of light. Then, the woman once again examines herself in front of the mirror for reassurance. However to her disappointment ‘I’ faithfully reflect her tarnished looks which upset her. 


She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.

Now, The woman's tears swell up in her eyes and she is left wringing her hands. Despite being disappointed at the sight of her ageing reflection, she cannot give up. Mirror still hold a significant place and she keeps coming back to it again and again. She starts her morning by looking at her reflection in it. She feels that her beauty and youth have been swallowed by it.


In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

The mirror is very important to the woman because she has ‘seen’ herself in the mirror from her girlhood days to her old age. The mirror has always recorded and reflected all the changes in her. But now her old and wrinkled face emerges. The loss of her youth and beauty makes her behave like a fish out of water, which rather than looking elegant and graceful, looked horrid.


- THEME OF THE POEM -
# Time, Ageing, and Mortality- The poem describes a woman seeing herself growing older and older in a mirror each day.

# Appearance and Identity- The woman can see only a surface-level reflection of herself. This implies that, though the woman wants to discover something deeper about herself, appearances can only reveal so much. The mirror will never be able to reveal the whole truth about who she is as a person. There is, after all, much more to people than what meets the eye.


- Figures of Speech -
# Personification : The entire poem is a personification, as the mirror, an inanimate object speaks in the first person and describes itself like a human, possessed of human virtues.

# Comparisons : The phrase ‘Now I am a lake’ forms a good example of a metaphor, whereas the last line has the words ‘like a terrible fish’ forming a simile where old-age is compared to a fish.



- WORD MEANINGS -
  • Preconceptions - An assumption
  • Unmisted - Clear
  • Mediate - To focus
  • Speckles - Flecks or freckles
  • Agitation - Feel anxious, excited


- QUESTION /ANSWERS -

Q. Why is mirror called a ‘four cornered God’ ?
Q. Why has mirror been called cruel ?
Q. What does the mirror do most of the time ?
Q. What disturbs the mirror’s contemplation of the opposite wall?
Q. Who is the woman in the poem ‘Mirror’?
Q. What makes the woman sad and tearful?
Q. Why does she feel like a terrible fish trapped in the lake of life?
Q. Why does the woman turn to those liars, the candles and the moon in the poem ‘Mirror’ ?
Q. What does ‘terrible fish’ symbolise?
Q. What lesson does the mirror convey?
Q. Explain ‘unmisted by love or dislike’.
Q. Why have the candles and the moon been called ‘liars’?


Q. Reference to Context

A.

"I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike"

a. Who does I refer to here ?
b. What does the poet mean when she says the mirror has no preconceptions ?
c. Do you agree that the speaker has no preconceptions’?
d. Which figure of speech is used in ‘I Swallow’.
e. Why has mirror been depicted as ‘unmisted’ ?

B.

“Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for; what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.”

a. Who is compared to a lake ?
b. Is the speaker a lake ? Why does he/she call oneself so ?
c. What is the woman searching for in the depths of the lake?
d. Who bends over the speaker ? Why ?
e. Is she satisfied with what she observes ? Give reasons for your answer.
f. How does the speaker convey that the woman is distressed ?
g. Who referred to as liars ?

C.

"I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day like a terrible fish"

a. Since when has the woman been coming to the mirror?
b. What is the ‘terrible fish’ symbolic of ?
c. ‘In me she has drowned a young girl.’ What does it refer to?
d. How is the mirror important to her ?

- ANSWERS -


- SELF EVALUATION TEST -
This is a quiz based test which is consist of 20 Multiple Choice Questions to test your Understanding about this Chapter...


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